---
title: Someone says runes were only for magic spells. What is closer to the… — The Middle Ages begin: the Vikings · tree and pragmatics
description: Someone says runes were only for magic spells. What is closer to the truth? Test 8 of lesson 20 «The Middle Ages begin: the Vikings» of the history course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Test 8 · The Middle Ages begin: the Vikings

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Someone says runes were only for magic spells. What is closer to the truth?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Someone, runes · **What happens:** say, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 of lesson 20 «The Middle Ages begin: the Vikings» of the history course of Mova's primary school. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: [the test at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/history/20-the-middle-ages-begin-the-vikings/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Someone says runes were only for magic spells.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:20-the-middle-ages-begin-the-vikings:t8:1
# text = Someone says runes were only for magic spells.
1	Someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	runes	rune	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	magic	magic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	spells	spell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Someone |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | runes |  |  |  |  | for magic spells | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What is closer to the truth?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:20-the-middle-ages-begin-the-vikings:t8:2
# text = What is closer to the truth?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	closer	close	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | to the truth; close *property* | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Runes were mostly ordinary writing

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:20-the-middle-ages-begin-the-vikings:t8:o1:1
# text = Runes were mostly ordinary writing
1	Runes	rune	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	mostly	mostly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	ordinary	ordinary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Runes | ordinary writing |  |  |  | mostly *property* | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Runes were Roman numbers

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:20-the-middle-ages-begin-the-vikings:t8:o2:1
# text = Runes were Roman numbers
1	Runes	rune	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	Roman	roman	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	numbers	number	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Runes | Roman numbers |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Runes were Chinese letters

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:20-the-middle-ages-begin-the-vikings:t8:o3:1
# text = Runes were Chinese letters
1	Runes	rune	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Runes | Chinese letters |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Runes were never used for anything

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:20-the-middle-ages-begin-the-vikings:t8:o4:1
# text = Runes were never used for anything
1	Runes	rune	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **use** | past · passive |  | Runes |  |  |  | for anything | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: subject=Theme for anything=Eventuality |

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**Text:** the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (`world/data/school/`), as the course runner gave them to the student. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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